The famous world map of Piri Reis, the Ottoman captain of the sea, is one of the oldest surviving maps showing the Americas. The map drawn by Piri Reis in 1513 shows the west coasts of Europe and Africa and the east coast of South America. Piri Reis, who spent 30 years on the open seas, drew the mysterious world map, which is the greatest work of his life, after he went into seclusion. On the map, which is quite different from its contemporaries; The shores of the American continent were perfectly drawn long before its discovery.
The map, which disappeared after the drawing, was accidentally rediscovered in 1929 after 4 centuries. The map, which was examined by many researchers after its discovery and made numerous publications, contains details that astonish scientists. The map is kept in Topkapi Palace in Istanbul today.
Valuable work containing the geography information of 16th century European and Muslim sailors; Drawn on gazelle skin using 9 different colors. The half of the map that has survived is 65 by 90 centimeters in size and has 24 different notes on it. With the Atlantic Ocean at its centre, the map includes the western coasts of Europe and Africa, and most of North and South America. 9 large and small ships, 3 kings and 17 different animal figures are depicted on the map.
It is one of the first maps to document that the world is round, about 8 years before Magellan’s famous world tour. When Piri Reis drew his map, it was not yet proven that the world was round. But Piri Reis was aware that the world was round and knew the true proportions of the continents. Piri Reis made a second map showing America in 1528.
Details on Piri Reis’s Map
When Piri Reis’ map was drawn in 1513, it has a lot of extraordinary information, from topographic details to coordinate lines. This information contains interesting details that no European knows. Instead of the latitude and longitude lines we use to determine the coordinates today, different lines connecting the direction angles and key points were used in Piri Reis’ map. On the world map; Areas that no one has yet explored, some interesting, frightening entities, patches of land that don’t normally exist, and a completely red island are drawn. According to some, it was intended to show that the Antichrist is on this island.
Christopher Columbus; He suspected that the world was round and thought that if he kept going west, he would reach Asia. Christopher Columbus thought that India was on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. That’s why he didn’t admit that he had discovered a new continent, namely America, until the day he died. But Piri Reis knew that America was an independent continent and was aware of the real proportions of the world. Moreover, it had never sailed to the Atlantic Ocean until then.
With its map drawing technique, it has realistic proportions not only of its contemporaries, but also of modern maps in many points. It provided the proportional balance very well and drew it in the most accurate way with the least deformations. The map he drew as if seen from space reveals the theory of extraterrestrial beings.
It is located on the map in unusual tracks that mark the distant past of the continents. When the world first existed, it was a single piece of land. The continents slowly separated from each other 200 million years ago. It is possible to see this event on the map of Piri Reis. The coastal details on the map are so successful that when the continents merge, they become exactly the same as the original shape of the earth. At the same time, the maps show a subglacial topographic map of Greenland, Antarctica. So much so that Pizarro had not yet discovered Peru, but Piri Reis knew the Andes. Moreover, in his lifetime it was almost impossible to draw such maps.
Piri Reis did not draw the first world map. The first world map was drawn thousands of years ago in Babylon. The map on a stone slab is an ancient Mesopotamian depiction with the Euphrates River at its center. The map shows Baghdad, the capital of Babylon. Piri Reis did not draw the first map showing America. The first person to paint America was Juan de la Cosa, the captain of Columbus. But the most important aspect of the Piri Reis map that makes it mysterious; It is the larger details that are not noticed at first glance.
The northern regions and African coasts are almost the same as on other maps. But the south of the map shows more unexplored places that were not known under the conditions at the time. Piri Reis is thought to have drawn the Antarctic continent on his map. The Antarctic continent was discovered in 1818 and first set foot in 1895. In other words, this discovery took place 3 centuries after Piri Reis. In the era of Piri Reis, the southernmost known in the world is the coast of Brazil. If the land in the south of the map is Antarctica, Piri Reis has drawn the future on his map.
